Ruby Rose's Ginger-haired, Xbox, 'Combat-Ready' Filly
by Mudslinger077fromDA
Summary: After walking out with a customized pony doll from a workshop in the City of Vale, Ruby Rose appears to enjoy having a pony plushie in her possession. later, Ruby is even more surprised - and overjoyed when she learns about the true nature of her pony plushie, its protector's mission, and much later, the shared origins between it and the world of remnant. Coverart was made by me.
1. Sal-u-Ta-tions

_Hello_

_This story is also available on . Chapter two has also been released there also._

**_- story/202690/ruby-roses-gingerhaired-xbox-combatready-filly_**

_This idea will start to lean towards RWBY more than MLP and with the new Season revealing almost a new secret every week it can be hard to tie this in. Nonetheless I appreciate you giving this fiction a try ^^_

* * *

><p>Ruby Rose, for the first time in a while, wanted to be alone.<p>

No one needed to look twice at her to see that she was carrying an oversized, folded weapon under her cloak or realize that her outfit came in all sorts of shades of red. As her dark-colored boots stomped across the sidewalk of a street in Vale with her head lowered, one would guess she lost a costume contest.

Despite being admitted to an academy – specifically one that trained monster-slaying hunters - two years early, and chosen to be the leader of her own team, Ruby was always regarded as innocent and childish at first glance.

Despite impressing so many people, Ruby wasn't entirely satisfied that she had to continue living up to impressing them – her teachers, her team (known as RWBY), and herself. If she ever failed, she felt she would have to earn their trust and praise all over again. If she kept succeeding, she would have to keep trying harder and harder in her studies and combat training to show she was growing.

That's why she wanted to be alone in the City of Vale, dressed in her usual choice of attire; to stop impressing people for once and get a chance to be herself.

"Weiss is gone on a family emergency, Blake is just nowhere to be found, and Yang is practicing with Nora for the upcoming tournament – what should I do?" Ruby wondered aloud.

"Why not buy a pony?"

Behind Ruby was none other than Pyrrha Nikos, a member of a team JNPR whom team RWBY was good friends with. She too, was also in her usual choice of unique attire – a strapless golden chest piece, golden leg-armor, with a red drape tried around her mini-skirt, along with a gold circlet under her long blood-red ponytail.

Unusually, in her hands was a horse plush donning some bits of armor and a hoodie specially made for it. On its flank was a crescent facing downwards, and its bright yellow hair gleamed in the sun. It also had two huge blue eyes.

"Oh. Hey, Pyrrha," Ruby greeted cheerfully, "What are you out for?"

"I actually work here." Pyrrha said, gesturing to the store she happened to be standing in front of. "It gives me something to do other than study for tests all week long. Wanna come in?"

Ruby found out that Pyrrha had been working at the store dubbed _Pony Pick-up_ since she was at Beacon for a full month now.

Initially, the store looked like it only held several clothes and accessories meant for pony plushies with no plushies on display at all. Looking around, Ruby found that the only things that weren't small-sized garments in the store were cans of paint, scissors, tape, and (oddly) medical supplies.

"You can make your own pony in here – all you need to do is pay one lien and enter what you want it to look like." Pyrrha stated, gesturing to a tube connected from the ceiling to the wall. All that was on it was a state of the art touch-screen and a section that could be opened from the outside.

"Really? Then, what do you here?"

"Just cleaning and maintenance," Pyrrha replied, "Why don't you give it go?"

Feeling some excitement coming to her, Ruby did so and briefly could see her and Pyrrha's reflections in the screen until she placed her lien in a hidden slot behind it. Then, the screen lit up and asked:

FILLY OR COLT?

"Fillies are girls, and Colts are boys," Pyrrha explained. Ruby continued, choosing 'Filly'.

…PROCESSING…

After the machine made some noises, another question was asked by the touch screen, followed by the screen's keyboard popping up underneath it.

TYPE IN FUR AND MANE COLOR PLZ

FUR:_

MANE:_

"Oh I also forgot-," Pyrrha realized, "-once you make a choice, you can never go back and fix it."

"Never?" Ruby gasped.

"Well, you can style the hair as much as you want once you receive it, but it happens to be a glitch in the machine's programming," Pyrrah said, and then held her own pony close. "I almost made Jaune here have lime hair…"

"Jaune?" Ruby wondered, now seeing that Pyrrha's did in fact looked an awful lot like the leader of team JNPR. Though Jaune was extremely rusty in combat nor a strikingly handsome student, he was still a person whom Ruby considered funny and nice.

Pyrrha's eyes widened, and she blushed. "Y-yeah… what? That's not something to tell him… or anyone…"

Ruby smiled, and went back to the screen for a while, but she didn't type anything. "I can't think of anything to base this pony on…"

Pyrrha suggested making one on Yang.

"Yang did like ponies a lot… but… she might hog it from me if she found out it looked like her…" Ruby sighed, "She kept doing that with some of my birthday presents that were either plushies or toy guns..."

"What about a relative? Or a teammate?"

Ruby sighed, and pulled out her pockets, showing that they were empty. "I could do one for Weiss or Blake if I had some more money."

"Don't worry – I've got some more," Pyrrha offered generously.

Ruby objected, stating she would just get her teammates all ponies once she had earned enough money (somehow, for she used up most of her money to buy desserts at lunch).

"Maybe do it on a relative then? One that means a lot to you."

Ruby frowned, still looking at the screen. Out of all her relatives, her uncle Qrow meant the most to her, though he didn't have much heart for toys, unless they were practice weapons. There was someone else who meant just as much as Qrow to Ruby, but that relative was long gone, with that relative's tomb on an icy cliff in the middle of nowhere.

"How about a friend? Or someone who reminds you of you?"

Ruby thought hard about this one. Was there someone who did remind her of herself?

_"__You called me friend! Am I really your friend?"_

_"__Sen-sational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"_

_"__I don't have a lot of friends… but if I did, I'd want them to talk to me about things…"_

_"__Don't worry – I'm combat ready!"_

Hoping it would do, Ruby, typed in the rest of the info on the touchscreen's keyboard. After fur and hair colors, next came eye color, eye lashes, hair length (Pyrrha recommended it to be very long), pony type, and several other options until, finally, all that was needed to be done was a cutie mark.

"What's a Cutie Mark?" Ruby asked.

"That's the pony's emblem, which is stitched into its thighs," Pyrrha said, "Though there are a limited amount of marks to choose from for this machine, you can have a custom cutie mark hand-stitched onto it," She tapped the crescent on *Jaune's* thigh.

Wondering why of all places an emblem would go on the thigh, Ruby stated, "I'll just do that."

"Okay – but we may need to come back tomorrow. I have to close the shop very soon," Pyrrha stated, "Any later, and my boss said she wouldn't mind locking me in." Pyrrha then went on about her boss, how she was very weird,and in some cases, mysterious. She was a very tall faunus with horns and horse ears, ate only vegetables, and allowed no-one, not even her employees, to come into her office.

"Maybe she's just a shy person..." Ruby shrugged, instantly hearing a *DING* come from the computer, and message saying:

Hurray! Your pony is ready!

Have Fun! And Remember, Friendship is Magic!

"Ignore that; I don't get it," Pyrrha stated, "My boss told me that it was one of things hard-wired into the machine."

"What's your boss's name?" Ruby asked, reaching into the cage to get her pony.

"She… never told me her real name…" Pyrrha stated.

Ruby pulled out the pony, pleased that it came out just as she had envisioned it – cream colored fur, with freckles, neon green eyes, a tiny unicorn horn, and curly orange hair.

"Splendid!" chimed Pyrrha, who threw *Jaune* in the air and caught him. "Let's get some more supplies before closing time"

Upon returning to her room, Ruby snuggled with the pony – which she named and modeled after her long-lost friend, Penny. Ruby had hoped Penny would appear out of nowhere, since it seemed to be habit of hers. However, Penny never did, and Ruby at times could not help but wonder about Penny - how she appeared to get to areas so fast, how she was awkward, why some of her clothing reminded her of an Xbox One, and especially how she was able to store so many swords in a backpack and levitate them flawlessly.

The thought of Penny's swords made Ruby shiver, for she remembered how penny mercilessly cut down several thugs all just to defend Ruby and her friends, so she returned her attention to the pony-Penny.

To Ruby, the pony's massive neon eyes gazed back at her in some unblinking alien stare (much like the eyes of the real Penny), yet her curly, fiery, orange hair and hot pink bow reminded Ruby of Penny's happy personality. Ruby still had to stitch some kind of a mark on her flank, for it looked very empty and meaningless without it.

"What could symbolize Penny?" Ruby thought aloud in her bunk, still holding the smiling pony above her. For starters, Penny was a great combatant...

Just then, her scroll beeped. Placing the pony aside, Ruby retrieved it and played the incoming message.

_*Hey, Ruby. It's Yang! Weiss is back early! Where are you?*_

Joyful and puzzled to see Weiss back so soon, Ruby sprinted out her room without closing it.

Once Ruby's footsteps were no longer heard, the pony on her bed had all of a sudden blinked. Propping itself upright, it clopped across the bed and made its way to the scroll. There, it logged out of Ruby's school account and entered in a shared account to send a message.

_"__Team Remnant to Team Equestria – This is 936-67-434. I'm in Beacon Academy, and I'm beginning my observations..."_

Facing a massive hologram of the message received an hour later, a tall white alicorn smiled in a darkened room. Beacon Alchemy was a very rare place for one of her fillies to end up, but she was happy nonetheless that a filly found a home.

"I may not be able to promise them normal lives, but I have promised them their lives anyway…" the alicorn said, staring at the message for an extended period of time. Alone, no one was here to see her sore purple eyes and the slowly-healing scars around her chest.

"Nonetheless, it has to be done – as long as these young and innocent ponies continue to live their lives, and... and as long as many more will come after them…" Celestia settled, looking away from the screen. "…I wish you were here to watch time pass, sister…"

Just then, Celestia's sharp hearing caught the sound of shattering glass and footsteps above her.

"Someone is definitely not-welcomed here during closed hours," Celestia growled, manipulating her body in an ugly process; her hooves divided into five sections, her neck shrunk and her mouth receded in her face, her tail vanished, and two human ears grew from the sides of her head…

After further transformations, Celestia threw on some clothes and stomped upstairs.

"Nothing but robbing an abandoned shop to make a man feel that he is a great criminal again…" said Roman Torchwick, taking lien out of the cash register at a steady pace. Robbing a store was a vacation from working with Cinder and the White Fang. So long as there were no huntresses on patrol, Roman felt safe enough to deal with the Vale Police Force if he had to.

While he was collecting lien, he suddenly felt a blinding light shine into his face, causing him to drop a bit of lien onto the floor.

"If by *abandoned shop* you mean *ignored and uncared for*, you are sadly mistaken," hissed a female voice, who sounded just as threatening as Cinder Fall.

Roman's eyes adjusted to the light and found himself facing at quite a beautiful lady – though he assumed she wasn't a human, for between her pink-aqua-blue-colored hair were two pony ears and a tiny horn in the center.

_…__Ah, a faunus.._

"If it's alright… I'll just be on my way, miss," Roman replied casually, seeing her angered royal purple eyes. Meanwhile, he held a finger on his cane's trigger in case things would get ugly soon…


	2. Know the Team

936-67-434, Aka Rwby's pony-plush, sat on Ruby's bed, still facing the scroll screen in the event she ever received any response from Team Equestria. Yet within twenty minutes of sending a message to them, nothing happened. Meanwhile, the pony-plush picked up the chirping of crickets outside the room's window along with the footsteps coming-and-going behind the door to the hallway.

But the pony had no interest in these unfamiliar sounds. Only a few thoughts kept racing in circles in whatever mind/soul was in her soft fluffy center: _Await orders from Team Equestria, begin and report observations back, and be only seen as an inanimate object in the eyes of other sentients._

"Maybe I'm just supposed to send messages and not wait for a response..."

The pony plush's green eyes were half-opened by now, the plastic eyelids hovering in front them. Then its neck gave in and slammed onto the bed cover.

Despite her resilience, fighting the feeling was too much to bear. Rather she allowed her eyes to close and her body to go limp. The crickets outside had now formed what sounded like a wonderful chorus.

As Ruby's pony slept, its mind no longer felt attached to its body of minky fabric. And slowly a picture from in front of her, starting out as blurs in a mess of colors with a few sharp distinct shapes standing out.

_Those shapes look like ponies!_ She thought, then calling out "Hai there!"

But none of the ponies responded. So was it just a photograph or a panorama? That seemed impossible as the picture wrapped itself all around her and the rainbow-crowd of ponies started to move. Ruby's pony felt the ground at her feet and She could then breath the fresh air around her, and see houses, hills, and mountains stretch into the distance with the sun shining the blue sky right above her.

When she moved her mouth it felt slow and sluggish, the ponies ignoring her completely. Every step forward came faster than she could notice it, much to her surprise.

Ruby's pony never stopped walked around the village until she approached huge oak tree with windows, doors, and a balcony. In front of the house, was a tall lavender unicorn smiling straight at her from a few meters. Unlike the rest of ponies who were blissfully walking to the left or right between them, this pony had a unique mix of violet and navy blue hair, and deep purple eyes. The lavender pony also had a cone-shaped horn piercing through her hair at the center of her forehead, no different compared to Ruby's pony.

"Uh...Hai? Salutations?" Ruby's pony replied from across the crowd to the lavender pony.

Before either could say anything else, a noise shot through the head of Ruby's pony, going into one ear and coming out through her other ear. Her knees buckled together and a violent ripple went down her spine. And then the entire town, along with all the ponies in it, blurred and disintegrated, being cleansed away. ...

Then, Team RWBY's dorm room was back in the pony-plush's sights, largely unchanged. Only this time it was darker outside, the door to a dimly lit hallway was open, and Ruby Rose herself was on the floor, slowly getting up.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Ruby was just recovering from crashing through the door. Weary from overusing her semblance of speed and the collision with the door, she rushed over to where she had last left the pony and snatched it from the top bunk.

Then she darted back into the hallway and rapidly knocked on the door to team JNPR's room.

"What?" Ren groaned, shirtless at the entryway. Ruby responded by jabbing the pony into his chest.

"Sorry Ren, But Yang can never know that I have a pony! Guard her with your life, okay?" Ruby pleaded, patting Ren's cheek. "Thank you Ren! Oh, I knew I could count on you!"

"Seriously, what-"

"Oh shoot! Here they come!" Ruby screamed, shoving Ren back into his room, and slamming the door in his face. Ruby darted back into her room, and entered the bathroom.

She waited there until Yang was calling out her name from the outside.

"In second!" Ruby shouted back, flushing the toilet and then opening the door.

"Geeze what's up you?" Yang wondered "You were just taking about how your day was and then to dashed up the stairs-"

"I had to use the bathroom." Ruby lied. When she remembered about her pony on the way to her dorm, she wanted to be absolutely sure that Yang would never get her hands on it, or at least not until Ruby was certain Yang would be willing to share it.

Weiss strode into the dorm room, in an a new white coat and heels. "They had bathrooms downstairs-"'

"I wanted to get some exercise." Ruby lied again.

Blake was the last to come in, setting down two white bags "Also, Team JNPR-"

"-Youdidn'tseeanythingoranyonegointotheirroom! Please don't tell!" Ruby gasped.

The rest of the team gazed back at Ruby with confused looks.

"I...was going to say that team JNPR was able to rent out _Desolation of Oum_. Because I just read the book I was thinking we could see the movie...as a team..."

"Oh, man I loved seeing it on the big screen!" Yang cheered.

Weiss shook her head. "The movie was a horrid attempt to turn three children's books into a young adult film. There is just too much CGI, battles, fantasy-lore, blood, and sex to even resemble anything from the book."

"Exactly my point." Yang replied, crossing her arms across her chest with an optimistic grin.

Ruby thought about the movie, pushing her worry about the pony aside. "Well...I am okay with the movie I guess - Wait, Blake you've just read the book? Everyone reads it when they are little!"

"Not everyone born outside the kingdoms." Blake shrugged.

"Alright! Movie night is on!" Yang cheered "I'll go check with Team JNPR if its alright if we could come. Ruby, you can go down and get popcorn-"

"No, no, no, no!" Ruby protested frantically "I...I think _you_ should get the popcorn cause...you _burn_ so, uh..."

"...so?" Yang repeated, cocking an eyebrow.

"So...we won't have heat up some for thirty minutes!" Ruby said, giving a nervous grin. The rest of team seemed even more puzzled "Oh and using my semblance really knocked me out so I'm kinda sleepy...and I'm your boss, sis..."

"...okay." Yang shrugged, and marched out of the room.

"What has gotten into you, Ruby?" Weiss demanded leaning into Ruby's face, her arm's crossed.

"Nothing..." Ruby wisphered.

"Nothing?" Blake repeated, Doubtful of Ruby's claim.

"_Nothing_ I want Yang to see!" Ruby stated "Otherwise, she'll take it from me and I'll never see it again!"

"_'It'_ being a...?" Weiss began.

"A...pony-plushie from the Pony Pick-up store where Phyrra works at." Ruby confessed, half embarrassed.

Weiss rolled her eyes and then shook her head, and Blake just gazed back. "A...pony-toy?" the cat-fanus said.

"Yeah!" Ruby nodded.

"That...you...can't even share with Yang." Blake said.

"Are you kidding me? When I 'share' something with Yang, she just hogs it all up!" Ruby panicked "You have to help me hide it from her!"

"Alright, Alright! We'll help you hide it if you get your act together!" Weiss settled, only to have Ruby tackle her to the ground with a hug.

"Oh, weiss! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK-" A scent then floated into Ruby's nose, causing her to pause and then start sniffing Weiss. "You smell nice, Weiss..." Ruby then continue to eagerly sniff weiss's coat, causing wiess to shrug her off.

"You dolt!" Weiss shrieked, blushing in red. "Its a prototype of the Schnee Dust Companies's perfume, invented by my cousin. How come you the only were able to smell it?"

"I dunno." Ruby said, shrugging. "I think I've got a really good nose..."

After Blake helped Weiss up, Blake then sniffed her own hand. "I can only smell it faintly."

"Really? Well, my cousin will surely be disappointed that-"

Weiss was cut off at the sight of Ruby smelling her hands and clothes anxiously and happily.

"The perfume smells... very, very..._weiss_..." Ruby said, her eyes closed.

:-:-:-:-:-:

So far being throw into another room that was similar to Team RWBY's wasn't really strange. But the fact Ruby's pony was shoved into another human's arms made it very uncomfortable. So far, it knew nothing about Ren, other than that Ruby had trusted him so easily.

Ren placed it under on of the beds. Ruby's pony felt itself nudge against something as something as soft as her.

"Ren's a really nice guy once you get to know him." a voice said behind her.

Ruby's pony erected itself upright and found that behind her was yellow pony-plush similar to her, only with much less hair, deep blue eyes, and a mark of a crescent on its flank.

"Hello! I'm C48-00-0S3! But my owner calls me 'John Ark' and 'Johnny'. She's the one with the green eyes and ponytail and the nice voice."

"Hai there!" Chimmed Ruby's Pony. "I'm 936-67-434. I've been once told that its a good thing when two ponies meet up on dangerous mission!"

"Who told you that?" Wondered John.

"I...I don't know. It just came to me, you know." Shrugged Ruby's pony. She knew she had been told that before - but by who?

"Do you have a name?" asked John.

"No..." sighed Ruby's pony "...well...I think my owner calls me 'Penny'...but that's not _my_ name..."

"Huh? Who's else does it belong to then? It has to be your's." John wondered "And where is your cutie mark?"

"I don't have that either one...how did you get yours?" Ruby's pony asked.

"I got named after this person who looks alot like me. But my owner told me it was okay for me to have my name spelled J-O-H..."

"Nu, Nu, Nu! Your mark!" Ruby's Pony went to his side and jabbed a hoof into it, making John flinched "How come you got one?"

"Maybe I...did something cool? I dunno - she made it...as soon as I woke up. But at least you get bow..."

Before Ruby's pony could reply to that, Ren peeked from under the bed. The two froze in place, until Ren left and called out. "Nora! Where did you put the movie?"

"Under my bed!" Chimed a voice coming from the direction of JNPR's bathroom.

"That's Nora. She's...very happy. Even when she is sad. And because of that she makes me happy." John explained.

"That doesn't make much sense." Ruby's Pony stated. "How can someone be happy when they are sad? Thats like saying...I'm really useful when I'm not Or I'm good when I'm bad."

John thought about in silence for a long time. "I don't know...it just does..."

The two sat in silence for while, before the hallway door opened. Ruby crept in and said "Hey Ren...sorry I kinda...'burdened' you awhile ago, but can my team join you for the movie night?"

"Sure - We'll start it as soon as Jaune and Phyrra get back." Ren responded. "You may want to bring some pillows and blanket."

"Yang's bringing the popcorn. I'll tell her to bring some extra just incase.

Ruby opened up her scroll and sent the message only to get a audio response back saying _*I'm bringing eleven bags with us! or should I say...'elven' bags. Eh? get it? Cause we're watching...a movie with elves in it? Okay, I'll be up quick.*_

From under the bed, John and Ruby's pony laughed softly.

"Yang is sooooo funny!" John exclaimed.

"You could say she is soooo... _Punny!_" Ruby's pony snorted, the two laughed further, only to freeze in place when Ruby peeked underneath the bed.

"Hey, Penny." Ruby chimed to her pony-plush, pulling her out and bringing her close to her silver eyes. "A long time ago, Yang had to leave me with my uncle Qrow. Initially I was so scared that I would never see Yang again, just as how I never saw my mom again. But Yang told me that no matter what happens she would always make sure I would be protected. And now I want to promise you that you'll be protected no matter what comes, even if it costs me..."

"...ELEVEN-BANGS OF POPCORNS!" sang Yang from behind the door "Fresh from Beacon's kitchen!"

"We'll have to talk later..." Ruby sighed, placing the pony back under the bed.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Thirty minutes ago...

Roman's finger rested on his cane's trigger as he side-stepped across the cashier desk.

"Oh, I am ever so sorry to have come into your shop, my fair lady. But please, can't you let a criminal do just feel that he is successful for night night? I usually rob dust, yah know?"

"All criminals eventually pay for their crimes..." The Unicorn-fanus growled, placing her flashlight on the ground and leaving her hands empty.

"Got a name, rainbow? Or just pretty face?" Smirked Roman.

"Celestia..." hissed the fanus. "And you I presume are Roman Torchwick, the ever-so confident and foolish vandal responsible for a recently failed attempt at robbing dust from docks."

"Well, try going face to face with a monkey, a kid, a cat, and sword-wielding maniac and then you tell me if it's easy!" Roman shouted, hefting his cane up and firing a magenta bolt from its end.

Just as he expected, Celestia took the bolt right the chest and was thrown back through a door.

"Oh woe-is-me for spoiling your hair, doll-face. But I've got now make a dashing getaway."

Roman hurled himself through a glass window and raced across the empty street. Just as he was halfway across, a shard whizzed past his hair. Roman turned and spotted Celestia had recovered and was levitating the broken glass shards, using her glowing horn.

"No one messes with a _Goddess_, Torchwick." Celestia hissed, launching all the glass shards at him.

Roman dashed behind a hydrant and braced himself. Shards tore through the selves of his expensive coat and even knocked his hat off. He managed to ignored the pain and the blood stains starting to appear on his white sleeves.

"Impressive, Celestia." Roman grinned, standing up from his cover "Perhaps you'll miss me even more once I take my leave. But know this - I. Won't. Miss. You"

Roman fired more bolts of from his came, causing the sidewalk across from him to go up in explosions, and sending Celestia flying back into her store. Hearing sirens in the distance, the criminal mastermind picked up his hat and continued his getaway on foot, through various alleyways and up a building's ladder.

Roman briefly glanced down and saw that the half-burned civilian was still chasing him, beginning her climb up the ladder.

"Damn..I sure pissed her off..." Roman noted, continuing to climb, only to be met with a surprise upon reaching the top.

Celestia was already there, her hands on her hips with a smirk on her face. "In that case, you filthy scoundrel, I will personally see that you rot in a prison."

"Woah, woah, woah!" Roman said, waving his cane at Celestia "Do you even have any idea who you are up against, civilian? Also call me dashing rogue from now on..."

"Yes. And I'll have you know it was once my duty to protect an entire civilization." Celestia said, stomping forwards with her glowing horn.

Roman sighed. "Enough with speeches, darling, and let's get on with the...dance?"

Roman noticed the ground below Celestia began to glow, and a then a shrieking noise followed it. It then erupted right under Celestia's feet, projecting her over Roman's head, crashing into the wall of nearby building, and then falling four stories into the alleyway. Roman rushed over to the edge of the rooftop, seeing Celestia lying face down and unmoving.

"How typical, Roman. I've saved your sorry head twice right now from attractive women."

Roman gritted his teeth and turned around to face his savior - a tall lady silhouetted against the rising moon with a fiery revealing dress and burning orange eyes.

"I had it under control, Cinder." Roman grunted.

"Of course you did. Unless the White Fang wasn't dealing with Goodwitch, you wouldn't have made successful robbery. Now come - let the police clean up this mess."

Cinder turned around and walked casually away. Roman on the other hand felt his gut drop slightly, thinking of Celestia down there. Pulling out a cigar and lighting it, he sought to extinguish those thoughts as soon as possible while he followed Cinder.

_...its been a while since I actually killed someone...Now wait a minute, Cinder was the one who dealt that fatal blow, not me...okay...I guess I did put her in position to be killed...yet...how did she get up faster than me? She was right behind me...Hmph...she probably has semblance of speed...speaking of that, how is it she has so much power and energy yet little training in combat? Oh shut up, Roman...she's not your problem. Not anymore._


	3. Sorcery

**Gonna go on hitaus for a while.**

**Thanks for following :)**

"What's up gals and guys!? Its Ruby's pony plushie and the Jaune-Replica pony plushie from Team Remnant, starring live from under Ren's bed!" Ruby's pony cheered at the scroll's camera (which also belonged to Ren)

"Who are you talking to?And...why are you calling me Jaune-replica? Pyrrha told me I could have my name be John or Jaune, like the color." John said "But because I'm not supposed to talk to people...I couldn't say-"

"Our audience! That's who I am talking to." Ruby's pony reminded "And stop getting so picky on your name - Its doesn't matter. Besides I was gonna call you 'little-John' before we started but I thought that sounded mean. I am taller than you thanks to my mane of yarn and my bow..."

"oh...but what audience? Who is gonna watch us?" John said, looking back the scroll.

"Team Equestria, silly!" Ruby's pony chirped, a little on the loud side. "Our mission is to observe and document and send all that stuff we observed and documented back to Team Equestria!"

"Wouldn't it be easier to write-" John was about to ask only to be silenced when Ruby's pony cupped a hoof over his mouth.

"You're too loud! And look - They have already started!" Ruby's pony pointed out, pushing the scroll forward with her tiny nose, until it was a few inches from the space between Ruby and Pyrrah, who sat with their backs against the front of the bed.

"I bet nopony has sent a video report to Team Equestria!" Ruby's pony smiled. John was too worried that Ruby's pony was making too much noise.

"Penny please stop...you're making too much noise..." John said, calling Ruby's pony by the name her owner called her by. That got her upset.

"Mister Ark!" Snapped Ruby walking over to her camera "We have job to do - and never call me by the name my owner gave me."

"Okay..." The yellow pony, shying away while the movie's opening had begun.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Celestia touched her cheeks, with the scars stinging and painting her fingers in dark red. She was missing a shoe, her button up shirt and pants were stained and partly singed. Her legs were shaking so much she needed to use the ladder bars to keep balance.

After taking a few minutes to look for her missing shoe, Celestia limped back to her ruined store with one foot bare. Much to her grief, her store was barricaded by three police cars with flashing sirens and officers. But the worst was yet to come, as Celestia saw police officers and a huntress dressed in an academic uniform - which Celestia identified as Glynda Goodwitch from news broadcasts - walking out of the doorway that lead down to Celestia's office.

Hiding in the alleyway Celesita kept herself close enough to eavesdrop on Huntress and the police officers.

"...Didn't know why anyone would attack some pony-plushie-shop...though after seeing all that equipment downstairs, like that hologram projector and ..."

"Officer. I advise you to keep this matter discrete as possible." Glynda advised sternly. "If what we think is true, this could be an illegal hideout for criminals - particularly the White Fang, as when I heard explosion coming from this area they had me occupied for some time."

"I hate to say it Huntress, but I've been trying to look up any documents and any indication of there being shop-owner who owns this," another cop bought up, showing the data his scroll "This shop wasn't set up with the approval from City."

"And only now you have noticed." Glynda sneered.

"Sorry - we were investigating into white fang so much to even care about the store." Shrugged the first officer. "But at least now we can clear out all this illegal equipment and shut down this business for good. Though I wonder how they even made the store look so...professional. No criminal would pour even that much money into glorifying their hideout. "

"Maybe they used magic." Suggested the other cop, chuckling.

Glynda nor the offier cracked a smile.

"Lock down this building, post officers around this area, and take whatever everything you can - including all the store's products - back to your headquarters. If you see anything suspicious, let me know." Glynda said.

"Sure thing - what about those locked doors down at the basement level? And that computer in the corner main level?" The officer asked.

The last thing Celestia heard was Goodwitch ordering the officer to leave those matters to her once she returned tomorrow. Celestia was thankful that the police hadn't found what was behind those locked doors - though she was beginning to wonder how she would be able to move whatever was behind those doors to a safer location.

Celestia considered her options - she could come out and tell them all about her being an alicorn and the shop owner, but they would think she was crazy and hold her in custody for questioning. Another option was leaving the protection of what the shop was hiding to the police and Goodwitch, though she was obliged it as she swore it was her responsibility to protect it-

Celestia remembered that because she had been chasing Roman and had been knocked out for some amount of time, she completely forgot about keeping track of messages that ponies were sending her.

The tri-colored unicorn faunus continued to pace up and down the alleyway, worried about many things including where she would sleep and who she could ask for help.

"Oh Pyrrha...I wish you were here..." she moaned.

:-:-:-:-:-:

_"Simmons Smaggins! What did you see?"_

_"You won't believe it Sarge the Red Sage, but I saw blues running away from...something."_

_"Was he a brown-bear-colored-blue?"_

_"Y-yes? Why do you know him?"_

_"Who cares if we know him, Simmons! I suggest we use the eagles, Sage!_

_"That would work...IF we didn't have to kill them for food, Girff..."_

"This...is a total a bore..." Blake sighed, thirty minutes into the movie.

"You certainly speak for all of us..." Ren said.

Nora kept stomping her feet and finally she shouted "WHERE IS THE ACTION!?"

Pyrrha sighed, and without altering anyone ejected the disk from a CD player and studied its cover. "Apparently this was the older movie adaption of the book." Pyrrha explained, causing everyone else to groan.

"Anyone have any other ideas?" Ruby asked "We could watch what's on TV..."

"Ruby, this ins't a TV - Its a projector." Weiss said, pointing to the huge bulky device Jaune had joked was a 'massive set of binoculars for one-eye astronomers' that was connected to the CD player.

"I might know something we can watch..." Pyrrha suggested, walking over to a self holding a few Dvd cases. "My manager at work gave it to me. She said it makes her smile and cry when she watched them."

The title cover read _Twilight's kingdom_

"Who's Twilight?" Ruby asked.

Simultaneously from under Ren's bed Ruby's pony did the same thing, asking aloud who was Twilight. Something was awfully familiar about that name...

:-:-:-:-:-:

"...from now on Roman, you'll continue doing dust robberies all over vale. With the Vital Festival and tournament coming up, the hunters and huntresses will be training themselves, monitoring any incoming transports, and keeping grim far from our borders. A few chains of dust robberies should only have you concerned about the police. As long as you leading those dust robberies...can I guarantee that you will act professionally?" Cinder said, as the two strode into a dark warehouse.

"Of course..." grumbled Roman.

"I will brief you on your next assignment later. Get some rest." Cinder stated, taking a turn into a dark corner of the warehouse

Cinder wasn't one for giving breaks to people to compensate for whatever hard work they did; Roman knew she wanted to have him ready as soon as possible. Resting to Roman was just another form of waiting for the next dust shop to be robbed, with the boxes, military equipment, and White Fang members being reminders. Roman walked up to his "room". Originally a manager's office overlooking the warehouse below, it had been cleared out and only held two beds.

_Everyone watching Vale's News Network probably is expecting me to live like a king on some deserted Island..._frowned Roman, setting his hat on nearby rack and resting on the bed. At least the White Fang did a good job of clearing this warehouse of rats and bugs.

But Roman wished more than ever that he was in charge - then he could live up to his dreams of being a famous criminal. Instead, he some was pawn in a powerful ladies game, kept in the dark.

And that when noticed something shifting in his room.

_Rats?!_ Roman gasp reaching for his cane and looking around. He became relaxed once he saw no more movement, and figured he wouldn't need to grab his cane after all. _...maybe I'm just exhausted..._

Once his head returned to the pillow, his eyes looked up at ceiling. That's when he saw them: two massive half-ovals that dimly glowed lime-green with pupils as red as blood. Roman whimpered at the eyes floated towards him, with a growl echoing around the room, and then he screamed.

:-:-:-:-:-:

"Alright! Lets see some but-kicking...ponies?" Yang said, now surprised to see seeing six silhouettes on the screen.

"One is a unicorn and two have wings, and one appears to have both..." Pyrrha noticed

_After the Intro, the scene then cut to a sunny street with pink, neon, and blue buildings of unique architecture. Six distinctive shapes - presumably the bearers - were walking on screen_

_"Seems like only yesterday I was saving this place from being totally destroyed. Hey, you guys remember that?"_Said some round, short, purple-green creature. Ruby asked if it was a tiny dinosaur.

"Whatever he is I bet he's the hero - he even gets his own statue before we see him do anything..." Pyrrha said "It also appears that this is a sequel to something..."

_"You only mentioned it about fifteen times on the train here." Bought up the rainbow mane-one_

_"Yes, and we never hear a peep out of you about your exploits." The purple-mane pony commented_

_"I'm glad you all wanted to come, but I don't think it's gonna be that exciting. I pretty much just have to smile and wave as the dignitaries arrive." Said the lavender pony leading the group. She was the one with both wings and a horn._

_"Yes, but you get to smile and wave like a princess." The purple one bought up_

"Princesses?!" Blake recoiled "May I go?"

"C'mon Blake - suck up like Jaune." Yang encouraged.

"Well...I had to live with seeing this stuff all my life...cause you know...older sisters..." Jaune said.

_"What's wrong, Twilight?" One of ponies asked_

_"Why the looooooooong face?" a pink one asked stretching out the lavender one's face._

Nora chuckled happily "Oh I get it..." and she continued to laugh until Ren sighed.

"Now I know who fits Nora's character."

The show then carried on to the point where they saw the Lavender pony, Twilight, uncurl a banner, and entrance of high ranking nobles. Horns blasted, guards saluted, the nobles were greeted by three other princesses.

"Woah...whats with all these characters?" Blake asked.

"That pink princess one reminds me of Candy!" Chirped Ruby.

"The dark blue one reminds me of Blake. And the white is kinda like Glynda!" Added Jaune added. Blake ignored the comments and focused on the movie.

_The Purple Green dinosaur/reptile then asked Twilight "That's it that all you had to do?" Twilight lowered her head and nodded, not smiling or making eye contact. One of Twilight's friends slapped him on the back of his head, where he then commented something nice. _

"Seriously, What's the point of the small purple dinosaur?" Ren asked.

"Maybe its to have someone raise the standard for Twilight. She's a princess but he said he saved a kingdom. I'm guessing that's something hard to surpass." Wiess casually commented.

_A little later into the film, they were met with Twilight discussing her Concern with the other princess._

_"I guess I just don't really understand why I'm here. Couldn't one of the royal guard have unfurled the banner?" Twilight asked._

"The question we've all been asking." Yang stated before shoving popcorn into her mouth.

_"Plus, it gives me an opportunity to see my favorite sister-in-law..." the Pink Candy colored pony princess_

"But who married who's brother?" Ruby asked.

"Maybe she was married into becoming a princess? I'm betting on that she she looks a heck lot younger that that pink princess..."

_Twilight then said in response. "But I... well, it's just that Princess Luna raises the moon, Princess Celestia raises the sun, you protect the Crystal Empire..._ "An empire? so that why they four princess!" Nora stated. _...and all I seem to do is... smile and wave."_

"Celestia?" Pyrrha wondered.

"You know that from somewhere?" asked Ren.

"That's my boss's name..." Pyrrha added. "I had feeling there was something familiar about that white princess..."

"So Celestia the White looks just like your boss?" Ruby said "that seems-"

"Shush! The purple pony is singing!" Yang chirped.

"Lavender." Wiess stated, causing everyone to look at her. "her coat is lavender and her hair is navy blue."

"Whatever, princess..." Yang grumbled.

_After hearing the song sung by the four princesses, the scene cut to dark alleyway with lone pony walking down it and meeting a hooded figure._

_"Very sorry. You came out of nowhere." The male pony said._

_"Is he friend or is he foe?", the pony wonders. I can assure you... I am no friend..."_

"I have a feeling that dude should run..." Jaune shivered.

"Ditto." squeaked a voice.

Everyone looked around the room. Wondering who said that voice. Looking underneath the bed, Pyrrha didn't see anything that could have caused the squeak. It was just her pony and Ruby pony next to Ren's scroll

"Look! Look! Look! **Look!**" Yang said "The red monkey is doing something!"

All eight eyes darted back toward the screen, finding cloaked figure 'Aka the Red Monkey' star sucking energy from the unicorns horn. The unicorn collapsed a the the cloaked figure grew in size. The scene then zoomed on the figure's glowing yellow eyes, only to be cut to the white Princess waking up in bed.

"It was only a dream?!" hollered Yang, throwing her popcorn at the screen. "Aw come on!"

"Yang...just chill..." Blake insisted.

"I though you weren't interested in watching..." countered Yang

"Well...I guess I am. Only for the story..." Blake insisted firmly, with smiled forming on Yang's face.

"Riiiiight...you know these ponies do remind me of cats. " Yang grinned.

"I have no idea what you are talking." Blake lied. "They look like horses."

:-:-:-:-:-:

Minutes after Roman screamed, Cinder thundered into Roman's room with White Fang guards flanking her, finding he wasn't there. Only his cane and his hat remained.

"What is this?" Cinder shouted, furious that Roman wasn't around to answer for his screaming. The white fang guards began to search the room, though it was just to make themselves look useful to the upset Cinder rather than be aghast at Roman's sudden disappearance.

Infact, Cinder seemed more surprised than upset. There were no other exits or entrances into the managers office, nor any sign of change. If this was some prank on her by Roman and perhaps other white fang members, Cinder though it was pulled off too well.

"Ma'am!" Called a young white fang member called from below. "I think I see Torchwick outside! He's...he's looking pretty beat up!"

Cinder dismissed her guards to the matter while she stomped back down, seeing three young White Fang soldiers moving crates. As instructed the young soldier made no eye contact and no sounds towards her. It was just then, Cinder smelled similar to the brand of cigarettes Roman bought only much denser and was coming from an open window.

Walking to source of the of the stench, Cinder opened the door to the outside, turned on the front lights, and continued to look around. If this was a prank, she intended that Roman would pay for it. Just as she was three steps out of the building she wondered why she was out here in the first place. What if this really was some prank that Roman had pulled off at the most unexpected time of night?

_...wait...night?_ Cinder wondered looking up at the sky. Unlike when she rescued Roman a few hours ago, it was was now completely cloudy with no sign of the moon or stars. The wind sent a powerful chill upon her shoulders, bare legs, and face. It also slammed the door shut.

Cinder rushed over to the door and tried to open it, only to see that it was locked from the inside. Furious at where this 'prank' was going, Cinder burned the door's handle and stomped back into the warehouse.

Five white fang members - the three young ones who were moving dust crates and the two who were superposed to have been looking for Roman outside - were all laid out on the floor. And the dust crates were missing.

Cinder Fall survey her surroundings and then ignited a flame from her right palm. Her predatory eyes shined and each step she took around the warehouse echoed around the walls.

"Its time to see who is predator...and who is prey..." Cinder hissed as she continued her search in the dark. However she knew she was being followed - the slow breathing behind her told her someone was alive.

_Very well...let me drag you to someplace else, just to see if you really want a death wish...or worse_ Cinder said, walking towards the back door of the warehouse. After a while she could hear the person follow behind her, so Cinder left the door open and guided her stalker to the entrance of another warehouse.

The sky was cloudy and the lights surrounding the warehouses were left off. Cinder took a few steps forward, and then spun around to meet the stalker with her fire. But she held off, seeing who it was.

"Neo..." Cinder sighed.

Neo, a little girl who looked as rich as Roman due to her coat, boots, and necklace (possibly even related cause their clothing came even in the same colors), pretty as Cinder with hair like strawberry and chocolate ice-cream, and as intimidating as a crazed maniac.

"So...these things have also been happening in the other warehouses?" Cinder asked only to be met with an smiling nod from Neo.

Cinder stomped over to Neo and asked if had she had seen Roman, if any dust crates were secure, and if she had any idea what was going on. Neo respond with shrugs and shaking her head.

Groaning, Cinder kept the flame in her palm ignited. "C'mon...you're going to help me find what the source of all this trouble is..."

Neo's jaw dropped into a wide grin and her eyes shined briefly. She then hovered close to Cinder only for Cinder to shove her a few feet away from her.

"Not that close, you freaking-dangerous-mute..." Cinder hissed, only to make Neo look away and frown. She thought she heard Neo sniffle.

"Fine...You cute-dangerous-freaking-mute..." Cinder said, causing Neo to smile again.

:-:-:-:-:-:

" Looks like we'll have to see the rest later." Blake said, heading back into Team RWBY's dorm.

"Heck yeah, what's better than ponies?" Yang said, following Blake.

"Ponies with magic." Weiss countered.

"Know-it-all." Yang hissed.

Ruby was about to step into her dorm only to have Ren tug her by the shoulder.

"Ruby, don't forget your po-"

Ruby's hands cupped Ren's mouth, and she said "My pot...ket...my pocket money! Oh yeah, don 't worry Ren I've got enough...eheheh..."

Weiss glared back at Ruby and shook her head. Ruby sighed in relief that Yang seemed not to hear.

"If you want Ruby I can keep your pony here for the night." Pyrahh offered, holding it her her arms.

Ruby smiled and thanked Pyrrah, patting the pony plushie's mane. She strode into her room and as she expected everyone was getting ready for bed. While she waited for Yang to be finished in the bathroom she climbed atop her bed and looked at her scroll.

_Account: 936-67-434_

_TextMsg sent: "Team Remnant to Team Equestria – This is 936-67-434. I'm in Beacon Academy, and I'm beginning my observations..."_

Ruby dropped her scroll, wrote down the account number, logged out of the mysterious account, and then logged back into her own, quickly changed the password, and sent a message to Beacon's help desk saying she was hacked by this "account : 936-67-434."


End file.
